Colorado's recreational marijuana law drives toking tourist boom

Marla Cooley isn't exactly being discreet when she advertises the marijuana friendliness of her vacation rental home near Lyons.

She calls the rental "High in the Hills."

"I'm in a spot where I can enjoy life at its highest, and I'm welcoming people to share the experience up here," said Cooley, who hopes to expand with extra cabins for guests. "I'm an entrepreneur. There's opportunity here."

This is the new world of Colorado marijuana tourism, where the past year's winks and nods have been replaced increasingly by an open embrace of cannabis-seeking vacationers. Lodging choices -- especially at bed and breakfasts or independent rentals -- have opened up for toking tourists. Marijuana tour operators say their businesses are booming. Pot shops reported being packed on Friday.

And advocates say this weekend -- surrounding the April 20 marijuana holiday known as 4/20 -- is poised to reveal just how much out-of-state interest has been generated by marijuana legalization in Colorado. The largest 4/20 celebration in Denver history will feature dozens of concerts, conventions, trade shows, product launches and symposiums around the city, capped by the now-familiar April 20 smoke-out in Civic Center. J.J. Walker, one of the owners of the marijuana tourism company My 420 Tours, likened it to a pot-centric version of the wildly popular South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

"Besides the DNC (Democratic National Convention), I can't picture anything bigger that people have really all come together for," Walker said. "It's going to be massive. ... The amount of money coming into town this weekend is astronomical."